We look forward to welcoming you to the Abbey and hope you have an enjoyable and memorable visit. Please bear in mind that the Abbey is a working church and so some recommendations and guidelines are set in place to achieve balance between worship and visitors needs. Following are some points to be aware of before you visit.

The short tour, priced at £2, is available to buy as you enter the Abbey, and contains pictures and information to help guide you around the church and precincts. An official souvenir guide covers the Abbey's fascinating history and describes its important role today, including many stunning photographs. This guide, along with other books on the Abbey, can be purchased in the shop on your way out.

For tours of the Abbey, including audio and verger tours, please click here.

We warmly welcome children and young people to the Abbey - although we don't recommend a visit for pre-school-age children. A Children's Trail, in English, is available free at the information desk as you enter the Abbey, and children are able to dress up as monks in the Museum.

For schools and groups visits, please click here.

Lavatories are situated in the exit near Poets' Corner.

Photography and filming (pictures and/or sound) of any kind is not allowed in any part of the Abbey at any time. As a visitor, you are welcome to take pictures in the Cloisters and College Garden for personal use only. Postcards showing the interior of the Abbey are available to buy in the Abbey shop.

The use of mobile phones is permitted in the Cloisters and College Garden. Please keep mobile phones switched off within the Abbey church.

To find out more about commercial filming and photography, please click here.

The Coffee Club operates two stalls at the Abbey, in the north cloister and on the Sanctuary outside the West Towers of the Abbey. Hot and cold drinks and a range of snacks and sandwiches are available. We ask that you do not consume food or drink in the Abbey church, Chapter House, Pyx Chamber, or Museum.

The Abbey shop is located outside the West Door as you exit the Abbey. A selection of souvenirs, postcards, books and gifts can be purchased.

There is no specific dress code for the Abbey. We recommend that you wear comfortable shoes as some parts of the Abbey are uneven underfoot. For services we ask that you dress in a respectful manner, although we are aware that some people are on holiday - bear in mind that during the winter months some parts of the Abbey can be quite cold.

The rubbing of the actual brasses in the Abbey was allowed up to around 1978. After that a Brass Rubbing Centre opened first at St Margaret's and then in the North Cloister, which lasted until 1998 when it was closed. You could rub replica brasses there, many of which were not Abbey ones but brasses from lots of different English churches. Now we recommend that people go to All Hallows by the Tower where they have a brass rubbings centre.